This best-selling history is the first fully comprehensive history of America s involvement in the Middle East from
George Washington to
George W. Bush, from the war with the
Barbary pirates to
Afghanistan and Iraq. As Niall Ferguson writes, If you think America s entanglement in the Middle East began with Roosevelt and Truman, Michael Oren s deeply researched and brilliantly written history will be a revelation to you, as it was to me. With its cast of fascinating characters earnest missionaries, maverick converts, wide-eyed tourists, and even a nineteenth-century George Bush
Power, Faith, and Fantasy is not only a terrific read, it is also proof that you don t really understand an issue until you know its history.
Background Information
George Washington fought in both the French and Indian and the Revolutionary wars, and was his country's first President. George W. Bush was elected president in a hotly contested election in 2000, becoming only the second son of a president to gain the office. The Barbary Coast, drawing its name from the Berbers who inhabited North Africa, was a haven for pirates who preyed on Mediterranean commerce two centuries ago. Afghanistan was invaded in 2001 as a result of the refusal of its Taliban government to reject Osama Bin Laden.